The mother called police at 3:55 p.m. March 30 from her son's bathroom, where she had locked herself inside while he beat on the door, and reported that her adult son, Aaron Harding Zanders, was trying to kill her, according to UPD Capt. Trent Taylor.

The mother, a 56-year-old Laytonville woman, was visiting Zanders' Ukiah home in the 300 block of Cooper Lane, and no one else was home when the altercation began, according to Taylor.

"She was visiting, and they were eating lunch when he just, for whatever reason, went off," Taylor said.

The mother told police that Zanders pushed her against a wall and hit her head against the wall 10 times and head-butted her, then also slammed her head against the kitchen floor, according to Taylor. She tried to get away and her son reportedly ripped her shirt off.

Things calmed down when the mother and son sat down on the couch, at which point Zanders gave her his shirt to wear. Taylor said he was helping her with the shirt when he allegedly grabbed a pillow and tried to smother her with it.

The mother got away, retrieved her purse from the kitchen and locked herself in the bathroom, he said, where she called 9-1-1. Zanders allegedly beat on the bathroom door while she was on the phone, eventually breaking it in half and hitting her head against the bathroom wall with the top half of the door, according to Taylor.

Officers responded to the home at 4:27 p.m. and arrested Zanders, who was by that time outside, on suspicion of attempted murder, according to Taylor. Zanders was booked at the Mendocino County Jail, where he was still in custody Monday morning under $300,000 bail.

The mother, whose name wasn't released, was taken by ambulance to Ukiah Valley Medical Center and treated for her injuries, according to the UPD.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.